The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1887-06-09

slavery. This is entirely gratuitous, as
there is no shadow of proof bat the
South, left undisturbed for the last
quarter of century, would not have
brought all those, and various other
interests, to a higher plane of devel-
opment than they now occupy.
The "cotton seed oil mlll'' is en-
phasized as one of the specific results
of the liberated energies of the New
South. Admit, for the sake of argu-
ment only, that the oil mill is the pc
culiar product OF the free South is
the fact beyond question that its pres
ence among us is an unalloyed bless
ing? Before the evolutionary forces
of the "uniettered" Southern mind
eliminated in this s'survival of the fit
test" the cotton planters returned
their surplus seed to the soil, with |
productive value of IS cents per bushel; !
now the negro renters and many white :,
farmers sell to the mill for 8 or 10 Cts. !
per bushel, and the only additional re-
the sumIi.tr. y, Ugh comes back in the
turn IS the OIL whle-.- al suar,, c,,t .i.,l ~ +,
shape of Armour's lard, for which
they pay 10 cents per pound.
He would have US believe that the
material resources of the South have
been developed only under free labor
and vet as far back as 1928, Thomas
H. Benton, himeelf opposed to sla-
very, said in the United States Senate
that the South furnished the basis OF
the Federal revenues, the value of her
exports up to that time being eight
hundred millions of dollars; that OF
the North, almost nothing. He fur
ther said that four slave States -Vir-
ginia, the two Carolinas and Georgia
paid three-fourths of the expenses OF
supporting the Government, while they
received nothing in return in the shape
of Government expenditures. Up to
the civil war, New England export
ed next to nothing, yet managed to
grow rich out of the abundant pros
Deri.v of the South. This explains the
significant remark Of Mr.. Lincoln, :'lf
we let the South go, where shall we
get our revenues?
Prof. Tillett, in attempting to por-
tray what he terms the blighting and
5 demoralizing influence of slavery upon
f the minds, morals and energies of the
! Old South, is guilty of the gross ab-
r surdity of attributing to the character
of wealth, influences which belong
0 only to its degree, or extent. The char
: acter of a mans wealth has nothing
, to do with his habits or tastes; 1t l:
: only the amount which he possesses
t and which is subject to the demands
: of his fancies and appetites, that ma,
i qualify his physical, moral, or intellect
: ual capacities. If the wealth of th'
d Old South, instead of being SO largei.
e in slaves, had beer invested in mines
it mills, railroads, ships, stocks, bonds
e etc., it would have engendered al
Y equal tendency to leisure and luxury
v No careful observer Will, prot ably
: deny that among the wealthy and fash
k ionable classes at the North, there
;" idleness and extravaganza, more toll
IS and arrogance, more dissipation ant
4 vice, and a more impossible Darrle
is between rich and poor than ever e,
A. isted IN the most opulent social clrcl
r. of slave holders. For however ariste
IN cratic they may have been, they wer
re ALWAYS courteous and refined. In tn
lie North the tendency to divide societ
,g on financial line has grown, with cor
Id stantly increasing intensity, for MOI
r. than half century, until now 1t IS
r. most definitely established. The vel
in rich and the very poor are as wide
he separated as Dives and Lazarus.
he the Old South, on the contrary, the
ch were processes constantly at work, E
of fecting a gradual and steady dltfuslt
he of wealth, which preserved, IN gre
.ty measure, the homogeneitv of soclet
is Prominent among these agencies we
he the matrimonial alliances SO often CO.
,te tracted between families of the III
ite and poor. In fact, it was the rule
in active. intellectual, ambitious your
zee men from the poorer families to mar
nv the daughters of wealthy plante
nat Instead of attempting to restrain the
or alliances, they were generally encol
tie aged by wealthy parents with a VII
ior to preserving the physical and men
the vigor of their families without sacrif
are ing their estates. To employ hon
the ly but expressive phrase, "brains a
sis money were constantly comblnin
ned to build up and preserve, in the {
nd South, the finest society in the wor
md to the exclusion of those twin evils,
ern millionairs and the tramp. The f
ore moral and intellectual organization
tire Southern children has, heretofore, be
rms largely due to the fact that their mo
18th ers were exempt from the hardsh
der of physical drudgery and the depre
ters ing effects of impending want. !
rior poorest man in the South suppor
yre- his family with comparative ease,
lue, cause of the gently rising gradati
ame in society and the universal libera
of the stronger toward the veal
evi- How is it in those countries so !,
ser freed from the '.curse Of slavery"